Zimbabwe parliament defeats proposal to stop controversial demolitions News
Zimbabwe parliament defeats proposal to stop controversial demolitions

[JURIST] Parliamentary members of Zimbabwe's ruling African National Union-Patriotic Front [official website] party Tuesday defeated an opposition proposal that would have ended the government's controversial home demolition program [JURIST report]. "Operation Restore Order" has resulted in 30,000 arrests of illegal squatters and merchants, and left anywhere from 300,000 to 1 million people homeless. The government has defended the plan as a simple urban renewal cleanup of illegal structures, but it has been criticized by the G8 summit [JURIST report], hundreds of NGOs [JURIST report], and South African church leaders [AP report] for being a repressive move against the most vulnerable members of Zimbabwe's urban communities, mant of whom are politically opposed to President Robert Mugabe. Voice of America has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Dreyfus convicted of treason

On December 22, 1894, Jewish French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial trial that prompted worldwide allegations of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was later cleared. Learn more about the case of Alfred Dreyfus and read an English translation of the famous public letter J'Accuse...! by novelist and Dreyfus partisan Emile Zola.

US passed Embargo Act, banning foreign trade

On December 22, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed at the urging of US President Thomas Jefferson. The act barred trade with any foreign nations in an effort to avoid American entry into the Napoleonic Wars of Europe. However, the act proved unenforceable and was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which barred trade with France and Great Britain. Learn more about the Embargo Act of 1807 from Monticello.org